By Kathy Stevens
The York Dispatch
YORK, Pa. — Sometimes emergency service work is, well, boring.
Emergency medical technicians might spend entire shifts in-house waiting for an ambulance call. They might transport a couple of patients who are feeling faint or have a bad case of heartburn.
And, of course, they see the tragedy.
Now aspiring emergency technicians have a chance to get out of the classroom and into the real world of medicine with a new course that includes hands-on training.
“We really want to give our students a real dose of what it’s like,” said Christina Ebert about a new emergency services course that offers students hands-on training. “Sometimes they’ll sit around for hours, other times see a lot.”
Certification: Ebert is an EMT-paramedic and now the coordinator of York Hospital’s new EMS Academy,
which offers the course to gain state and national certification as an emergency medical technician.
Similar courses are offered elsewhere, but that instruction does not include fieldwork in ambulances or in emergency rooms, Ebert said. She said York Hospital’s course will better prepare new EMTs with hands-on training and additional certifications that other courses do not provide.
Ebert completed her EMT training in Southern California and said she received little hands-on training. When she began working in the field about four years ago, the transition from classroom to reality was an eye-opening one.
“It’s a different world,” she said, adding the course would give graduates an edge when competing for entry-level jobs. “Being in the field is a lot different than what you’ll get from books and checklists (instructors) give you in class.”
The course: She and several others at York Hospital began discussing the EMS Academy more than a year ago. In June, they began the process of accreditation, working with a regional oversight committee to outline curriculum, policies and supplies.
They enlisted two ambulance companies, Red Lion and West York, to provide hands-on coursework. And in October, the Pennsylvania Department of Health approved the $750 per person program and granted accreditation. Students will attend classes seven hours a week and are slated to begin hands-on training in the third month of the six-month course, Ebert said.
When they complete the course, they’ll be prepared to pass state and national certifications and also will hold additional certifications for pediatric and trauma patients. They also, most likely, will have had some driver training, she said.
“Whether they’d earn more as new EMTs we don’t know,” Ebert said about the $11.38 hourly wage for entry-level EMTs in York County. “We do believe it will make them more employable.”